“Stories from the Vaults” host Tom Cavanagh posing in front of the Smithsonian Castle.

Here at Smithsonian Channel we’re gearing up for the premiere of the second season of Stories from the Vaults. We’ve freed up our Sunday night in anticipation of the premiere and we’re spreading the word! Earlier this week host Tom Cavanagh stopped by Live! With Regis and Kelly for a quick interview. Stuart Zakim, our VP of Corporate Public Relations was there for the interview and gave us a little taste of the behind-the-scenes experience.

Tom Cavanagh did a great job interviewing today on Live! With Regis and Kelly, taped for airing this Friday, 7/10. When Tom arrived at the studio I took him to the green room for some quick refreshments while the hosts set up the segment. I munched on some fruit while Tom sipped on coffee and had a quick hair and make-up touch up. Serena Williams was the guest before Tom, so we watched her interview on the green room TV and chatted about her Wimbledon win.  One of the producers came in to go over the segment and how it would run and then Tom was ready for action.  After a few minutes, Regis and Kelly announced Tom, and the producers escorted him around the corner and out the door to the set. Tom talked up “Stories from the Vaults.”

After highlighting anecdotes from his filming adventures in Panama and at the Smithsonian Museum, Tom and Kelly reminisced about “Ed”, the series they both worked on a few years ago. At the end of the segment, Tom spoke about his recent trip to Africa to support his personal charity, “NothingButNets“, a global initiative to prevent malaria by providing insecticide treated bed nets to refugees in Uganda, an issue that we’re familiar with at the Smithsonian Channel through our new show, Zambezi!

The interview was perfect and Tom came out of the studio with a grin. We said our good-byes and he was off. We’re excited the Regis and Kelly episode will air just in time for Stories from the Vaults season premiere on July 12th!

Catch a sneak peek before the premiere this weekend.
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An image of doughy perfection worthy of a spot in Smithsonian’s vaults.  Image uploaded to Flickr by Scott Abelman.

The delectable doughnut shop down the street has been around since 1937 and like most businesses, started small with one shop and one recipe. As they expanded, it was a challenge to make sure the doughnuts not only tasted the same but looked the same as well. It was then, in the 1950’s, that Krispy Kreme invented its custom doughnut-making machine, The Ring King Junior. With the introduction of the Ring King Jr. came perfectly round, evenly golden-goodness. The machine eventually led to the doughnut making apparatus that we now ogle in the windows of Krispy Kreme.

Take a look at our sneak peak from Smithsonian Channel’s popular Stories From the Vaults series to see the early days of Krispy Kreme.

The original Ring King Junior could produce 60 dozen doughnuts in an hour and now lives in the Smithsonian Archives at an off-site warehouse away from the National Mall.

Enjoy our sneak peak? Stay tuned for more video clips as we countdown to the new season premiere of Stories from the Vaults, coming up on July 12th. And on July 13th, celebrate six-dozen-years of Krispy Kreme. Forget about the summer diet for one morning and enjoy a few doughnuts.

Meet Elizabeth Hazeltine, you can call her Lizzy. We’re fortunate to have Lizzy join us for a summer internship at Smithsonian Channel.  She took the time to answer a few questions so we (and you) could find out a little more about the newest member of our team.

Summer is a busy season here at  Smithsonian Channel. The museums are bustling and production crews are fanning out across the country to collect more amazing HD footage. Throughout the summer Lizzy will be following the action and contributing posts to our blog to keep you informed.

So Lizzy, where are you from and how did you end up spending your summer with the Smithsonian Channel?
I’m a native of Charleston, South Carolina; I was exceedingly lucky!

Where are you currently studying and how does Smithsonian Channel tie in with your studies?
I’m a multi-media journalism student at UNC Chapel Hill with an interdisciplinary minor in politics, philosophy and economics. Working with Gina Buchanan on web-content makes me grateful for those courses on photography, philosophy, news writing and media law. Since the web can host almost anything you can throw at it, I’m getting to blend those areas in new ways every day (the philosophy comes into play as I write captions).

What’s the coolest thing you’ve done in your career or life?
Last summer when I lived in a village near Ollantaytambo, Peru, I learned how to herd cows, or wakas as they call them in Quechua. Trust me, it was and is more exciting a task than you think. Cows are bigger and more stubborn than I thought possible and let’s not mention their paranoia about their calves.

One day I brought the whole herd back to the house. This would have been nothing for a six-year-old Peruvian kid, but it was quite the opposite for me. The whole way up the mountain, I clucked at them in Spanish and English, neither of which they were too inclined to heed. When I had them tied up outside I was so proud of myself. My host family and my family at home both laughed at me, but I was still darn proud.

Wakas from the Feria de Huancaro in Cusco.

What’s the coolest part of your internship with the Smithsonian Channel?
Without hesitation, meeting curators and soaking up the stories they share. As a group, they are among the most unassuming and earnestly intense people. They dedicate their energy to connecting people with knowledge because they care so much about what they study. I can’t help but be impressed and inspired by that sort of passion.

That said, on a totally juvenile note, I really get a kick out of riding in the museum freight elevators when on shoots. There’s nothing like having loads of little kids gape in sheer amazement and envy as those big gates close.

What are some of your hobbies, skills, and interests?
Running, knitting, photography, cooking, and dancing, usually in combination, though not necessarily all at once.

Your favorite travel destination and why?
The last place I’ve been is usually my favorite, so this week it’s Summit County, Colorado. Standing in front of those mountains reminds me of watching the horizon at the beach: in both places I feel a comforting sense of smallness. The aspens covered in snow are much quieter than anyone ever mentions- to the point where they muffle the baby powder sound your snowshoes make and the mental racket of everyday life.

If you were stuck on an island and could take three things, what would they be?
-Sunscreen: assuming the island is sunny enough to turn pasty-pale me into a lobster and not like the foggy sort they have in Maine where there are real lobsters
-Banjo: plenty of time to practice those rolls, I’m no Abigail Washburn, yet
-Manual typewriter and paper: everyone’s got a novel in them

What’s currently on your iPod?
A somewhat motley mix of everything including but not limited to the following: The Avett Brothers, George Gershwin, Ratatat, The Decemberists, Arcade Fire, and Chick Corea.

Give me a unique fact about yourself.
I once owned 13 distinct shades of purple nail polish.

If they made a movie about your life, what actress would you want to portray you?
Drew Barrymore- she’s unapologetically happy and quirky, not to mention beautiful.

Finish the following statement “I really crack up when…”
My brother calls me a chicken in his text messages. I like to think it’s his way of being affectionate.

In commemoration of the nation’s number one meat-in-a-can (of which three cans are sold every second!), Smithsonian Channel’s comedy series America: Wild and Wacky will feature a SPAM® cook-off in a round up of the many colorful, homegrown celebrations taking place across the country this Independence Day.

Want to watch this SPAMTASTIC event? The SPAM® cook-off kicks off on the Smithsonian Channel, July 5 at 4pm but you can watch a clip of the show right now.

A little SPAM® trivia for you to share with your friends at the cookout this weekend: SPAM® acquired its name in 1937 from multiple entries in a naming contest, and has since become the phenomenon we know today. It is available in over 31 countries and sold its seven billionth can in 2007. SPAM® also has its own Facebook page and as of this moment has 14,849 fans!

SR-71 at the Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center

Photo uploaded to Flickr by Bernt Rostad

Did you see the new Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen movie? Did you know one of the stars lives right here in Washington, DC at the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum?

The SR-71 Blackbird pictured here was used as a model for the movie’s character, Jetfire, and now sits on display at the Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center, near the Washington Dulles Airport.

The Blackbird  was created in 1964 as a reconnaissance plane with top speeds of 2,000 miles per hour! The plane, now on display at the museum, once traveled from NYC to London in 1 hour, 54 minutes and 56.4 seconds. You couldn’t even finish watch a whole movie in that time.  It really does deserve the honor of being known as the Ultimate Spy Plane.

If you want to experience a true day of Transformers, consider taking a trip out to the Udvar-Hazy Center to watch the movie and see the Blackbird come to life onscreen in the Airbus Imax Theater!

Photo uploaded to Flickr by Robert Couse-Baker

The company recently announced it plans to retire Kodachrome film after 74 years on the market. It’s a sad time for Kodak users, whether professional or amateur. Kodachrome film has a special place in the history of American culture as Abraham Zapruder used it to shoot photos of John Kennedy’s 1963 assassination.

Musician Paul Simon even wrote a famous  song about the film, which became so popular with American consumers because it produced photos with such vivid colors.  Today, Kodachrome film accounts for only a small fraction of 1 percent of all Kodak sales.

Photojournalist Steve McCurry will have the honor of shooting one of the very last rolls of Kodachrome film for an exhibit at the George Eastman House photography museum in New York. McCurry is famous for his photograph of a a young Afghan girl seen on the cover of a 1985 National Geographic Magazine.

If you have photos taken with Kodachrome film you may want to add them to this Flickr photostream designed to preserve some of the amazing features of the film. This effort was started by photographer Daniel Bayer.  You can watch a slideshow of some of the images by clicking here.   Kodak also offers its own Kodachrome slideshow of some of the most incredible photographs I’ve ever seen.

Still looking for more images? The Kodak Blog is home to thousands of images and galleries so check it out.

With the stroke of a pen last week, the Smithsonian Institution and the World Bank promised more firepower in support of the endangered tiger.

Dancing Tigers uploaded to Flickr by ac4lt.

As a part of the Global Tiger Initiative, the World Bank Group and the Smithsonian’s National Zoo will establish a “Conservation and Development Network” to ensure tigers have a fighting chance.  One million dollars in World Bank funding and the academic juggernaut of the Smithsonian Institution will reinforce and expand the year-old initiative.

This means more might fighting for tiger rights!

Current tiger census figures estimate that fewer than 3,500 individuals remain in their natural habitats. The 13-country membership of the Global Tiger Initiative aims to increase that number through habitat protection and reclamation, breeding programs, and education initiatives.

A pleased Smithsonian Secretary G. Wayne Clough said “the Smithsonian’s scientific and conservation expertise with the World Bank’s 60-plus years of development knowledge will allow us to build a global network of leading scientists, policy makers and NGOs with the critical goal of saving the wild tiger.”

Those leading scientists have quite a bit of experience under their collective belts. The Zoo has recently celebrated a few cute and cuddly successes with big cats of all stripes, including the successful breeding of the finicky clouded leopard .  This makes them a natural choice to lead the project’s command center at the Smithsonian Conservation and Research Center in the Shenandoah Mountains.

Smithsonian Channel had the rare opportunity to experience the life of some of the Zoo’s big cats. Our cameras followed three tiger cubs that were born at the National Zoo. They’re adorable but feisty. When it’s time to come inside for dinner one of the cubs was not quite ready to come inside. Watch as the zookeeper tries to wrangle a tiger cub.

Rheas are large, flightless birds native to South America and are part of the ratite family, which also includes the ostrich, emu, kiwi, and cassowary.

Photo uploaded to Flickr by Mehgan Murphy with the Smithsonian’s National Zoo

Rhea chicks are raised by their fathers, who incubate their eggs and rear the chicks once they are hatched. The chicks pictured above were born a short while ago on May 8th and since then the father has kept them all very close.

This year’s hatch is only the second flock of Rhea chicks born at the Zoo in thirty years so our congratulations go out to this very proud and dedicated dad.

If you find yourself curious about real vampires, like I am, you should check out the series Tomb Detectives, airing Sunday nights on the Smithsonian Channel. This week’s episode takes a closer look at some suspicious deaths from an abandoned cemetery in Connecticut and strange bone arrangements found in a town outside of Prague.

Follow along as the archaeologists try to determine if these bone arrangements were related to local vampire lore, disease or just a simple coincidence this Sunday, June 21 at 8:00 pm EST.  Watch the clip below for a sneak peak at Sunday’s premiere.

So what do you think…do you believe in vampires?

Watch and learn about all kinds of exciting topics from underwater creatures, to robots and how things fly. Be sure to tune in this Friday, June 19 at 8:00 PM EST to watch as hosts Andrew and Paula take an in depth look at some creepy crawling critters.

They investigate everything from whether or not bees can tell time to how bugs in Hollywood can “act” on cue.  In this, sneak peak we join co-host  Paula as she serves up some scorpion pizza and bug-in-every-bite cookies!

Be careful not to try cooking at home with your insects though, these edible bugs are raised special, just for food. Out of the millions of types of insects in the world, only some are safe to eat and not poisonous. Watch and see how scorpion pizza is made and more importantly how it tastes. Enjoy!